The Road To Normality
by KriticalError
Summary: A series of stories, all related to one another, not necessarily in order taking place after The Dying Of The Light. So expect spoilers. Also contains much Valduggery 3 Because OTP. Was originally a re-write/update on my old fics, but as I wrote the story changed and the writing (I hope) got better. Which bring's us here. Valkyrie's journey of returning to life in Ireland.


_Hey guys! It's meeee! Sorry I haven't been overly active, But I want to try to be. A lot of stuff has gone on with me lately, and long story short - I think writing might be "good" for me, so here I am._

 _This was originally me re-writing my old Valduggery fics and trying to make them better, but as I went I sort of ended up making it a bit different, and then a lot different... So... Yeah... This *was* a revamp, but now it's an entirely new story loosely based off of my old ones, and hopefully the writing's a lot better! ^^"_

 _Now in these, Val is at youngest 18. And obviously if you don't like Valduggery don't read it :) Annnnd I hope you enjoy!_

 _This one takes place the day after she's got back to Ireland, and all of these will contain possible spoilers from every Skulduggery Pleasant book, all credit to character's goes to our Lord and Master Derek Landy._

* * *

 **Dusk - Part 1**

Crouching low, moves calculated and deliberate, all manner of things were running through her head, many of which she knew had no place being there.  
In the five years she had spent away she'd had plenty of time for pointless pondering. Plenty of time to remember the minute details of her life, plenty of time to consider who she was, who she is, and who she needed to become - and now was not the time for these thoughts to be rearing their ugly heads.  
She dug her nails into her palm, concentrating on the pain and willing herself to be brought back into the present. She heard familiar steps come up behind her,

"Have you seen anything yet?" Her voice barely a whisper.

"Not a thing." Skulduggery growled, more to himself than to Valkyrie.

He moved around her, revolver in hand and peered around the corner of the wall. Then he straightened and stepped matter of factly into the empty alley way. He turned to face her and shrugged.  
Slowly Valkyrie stepped out too, and several things happened at once;

She heard a snarl, several gun shots, saw a flash of white, and felt strong hands on the shoulders of her coat.  
Eyes narrowed and adrenaline pumping, she bent her knees low, kicked backwards and twisted her hip into her attacker. Dusk merely took a step, and smiled at her before retreating into the shadows and seemingly vanishing.  
She rounded as flame lit up the dark alley, Skulduggery's gun had been abandoned on the ground and he was firing flame after flame as two infected were hurling themselves at him.

Sharp claws found Skulduggery, and he roared in pain. He displaced the air, forced them both against the alley wall as Valkyrie appeared by his side, a white glow crackling at her fingertips.  
The infected snarled and lunged for them both, jagged fangs dripping with hunger sought out her flesh and lightning cracked in front of her eyes.  
A piercing screech broke the night.  
Everything was white.

Half blind, and ears ringing, she sought out Skulduggery's shape in the dark, rubbing her eyes and trying to adjust to the black after the sudden bright.

The other Infected was looming over Skulduggery, saliva dripping onto the lapels of his suit and snarls reverberating within his skull. Valkyrie blinked, head pounding, lung's burning, and she concentrated on her magic. She felt the electricity pulse in the veins of her arms, felt it crackle and grow stronger as it traveled excitedly to the palms of her hands.  
Skulduggery glanced towards her, and sent a blast of air into the Infected, knocking it back.  
Then she fired. And it was hurled into the road. 

* * *

Valkyrie's boot collided with the Infected she'd knocked out earlier and she stumbled into the nearby wall. Cursing, she rubbed her arm and scowled at the monster at her feet.

"And what did that wall ever do to you?" Skulduggery quipped.  
"Nothing, I just tripped."

"Yes, I tend to have that effect on people."

"Shut up."

Skulduggery paused looking at her, his head cocked to one side. "I don't wish to alarm you Valkyrie... But you appear to be bleeding."  
Valkyrie's brow furrowed, and she looked down at herself. Her right side was shining in the light of the street lamps "I think you might be right."  
"I'm rarely wrong, does it hurt?"  
"Not particularly," she said truthfully. "Honestly I'm not even sure _where_ I'm bleeding from." She took off her coat and examined it, no tears. Not that she expected there to be, Ghastly's skill was undeniable. A cold feeling spread through her, _Ghastly_. She frowned and shook her head, _later._

Skulduggery was still looking at her, he cleared his throat unnecessarily.  
"I... Don't wish to alarm you further, but you seem to have a rather large chunk of flesh missing from your shoulder."  
"What?"  
Her pointed to the end of his collar bone, she brought a hand up for her shoulder, and recoiled from herself as cold fingers met warm stickiness.

He coughed, also unnecessarily. "Perhaps a visit to Synecdoche is in order."  
"Yeah, you might be on to something there..."  
Skulduggery fished out his mobile, arranged for some Mage's to clean up after them, and they drove to Roarhaven.

* * *

It was early morning when Valkyrie finally woke up the next day, she stretched out in bed and winced as her wound stretched with her. She groaned.

"Good morning." Skulduggery said, an unusual perkiness to his voice.

Startled, Valkyrie pulled up the bed sheets to cover herself.  
"Bloody hell Skulduggery!"  
She peered over the top of the sheets and looked around, Skulduggery was sat on a chair about a meter away.

"You seem confused."

"I thought I was somewhere else" she said slowly.  
"Ah, no. You are in the Sanctuary's medical bay, after a grueling battle of wits against the world's most deadliest of foes - And I daresay we were spectacular."  
"I'd hardly call Dusk and a couple Infected _'The world's most deadliest foes'_ " she smirked.  
"Fair point," He paused. "Where did you think you were?"  
"Doesn't matter." She said, rubbing her eyes. "I'm here now."  
She sat up and groaned, her shoulder - although visibly looking _far_ better than it had last night - was burning.  
Synecdoche came bustling in a few moments later, fussing over Valkyrie then leaving after depositing a bag of leaves on her bedside table and telling her she was free to leave.  
 _'Free to leave' she says, I haven't felt pain like this in years._ Valkyrie thought to herself grumpily.  
Then suddenly a whole mess of thoughts came flooding in, and her head was overwhelmed with emotions and her brain begun pounding against her skull.  
When Darquesse left, she thought the voices would stop. She thought the pain would lessen after years of isolation. She thought when she finally built up the courage to come back that things would be... She didn't know how she thought things would be - but she certainly didn't expect things to just _click_ in the way that they had.  
But something was wrong, it wasn't a satisfying _click_ , it was a forced one. One that needed extra effort and a substantial amount of grease to get it to fit. Her head throbbed and she frowned, she just couldn't pin exactly what was wrong, but it was something.

"You're sulking,"  
Skulduggery's voice washed over her, warmth emanating from her stomach and flowing upwards to her chest. Her head snapped up a little too fast and she winced as it felt like her brain had been thrown carelessly to the back of her head "Am not," She frowned. "I'm just thinking."  
Skulduggery's head tilted in it's familiar way, "Careful, that's dangerous for you."  
She scowled, "I'm just thinking about... _Things._ I dunno - Have thing's seemed odd to you?"  
"I am a skeleton Valkyrie, I'm an oddity in my own right."

"You know that's not what I meant. Me being _back_ , It's just... I don't know, everything seems a bit too easy. I'd expected things to be really difficult - For us I mean."  
"Why?"  
"I've been back a day, and from the first minute things have been easy. This is supposed to be the hard part. This is supposed to be the part where we have to build up our friendship again, where I have to try to redeem myself from all the bad things I did as Darquesse -

"- That wasn't you."  
"Yes it was!" Valkyrie groaned becoming frustrated, "I've come to terms with that, Skulduggery. I've dealt with that, and now I need to make things right. But not like this, I don't deserve to have things made _easy_ for me. The most we've had to deal with since I've been back is Dusk -"

"- And we still don't know _why_ , mind you."

Valkyrie took a breath and held it, eyes closed, head pounding worse than ever. She released it and clambered out of the bed, pulling on her heavy boots and standing.  
"I want to go home."

The Bentley was warm and familiar once she'd settled inside, the smell of leather was a welcome comfort. She ached, she wanted to just go home and sulk.  
 _Wait... Where_ is _home?_  
She thought for a moment, pulling on her seat belt, and she didn't know. The prospect of seeing her parents and sister scared her, not there - At least not yet. The idea of Gordon's wasn't too appealing either, as much as she loved her Uncle's house - It was still _his_ in her mind.  
She glanced at Skulduggery and he was looking back at her, big empty eye sockets seemingly seeing right into her thoughts. She wasn't sure if she liked that. She wasn't sure of a lot of things lately.  
Skulduggery put the key into the ignition, and the Bentley purred into life.  
There was that warm feeling again, she couldn't help herself. She leaned back into her seat, closed her eyes lightly, and smiled.


End file.
